DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News has learned former DeKalb County Purchasing and Contracts Director Kelvin Walton is now under federal investigation.
A U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman would not confirm the investigation, but sources say a middleman who paid Walton bribes has come forward to federal prosecutors as a witness, claiming to have given Walton $1,000 on several occasions.
The source claims the money was paid on behalf of a company called MME, or Metals and Materials Engineers, which has won millions of dollars in DeKalb County contracts.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Jodie Fleischer left a message for the company's owner, Barry Bennett, who did not return the call.
An attorney for Walton declined to comment.
"I would like to apologize to the citizens of this county," said Walton two weeks ago when he testified against his former boss.
Walton became the star witness in the corruption case against ousted CEO Burrell Ellis, who is facing 13 counts, including bribery, theft and perjury. The jury has been deliberating since Monday afternoon.
DeKalb prosecutors named Walton an unindicted co-conspirator in the Ellis case, and Walton testified about secret recordings he made of his boss regarding aggressive solicitation of vendors and county employees for campaign contributions.
To avoid state prosecution, Walton agreed to testify truthfully, and was forced to admit he had lied under oath before a special purpose grand jury which that was investigating county corruption.
"What if anything did you testify untruthfully about?" prosecutors asked Walton on the stand.
"Accepting gifts from a vendor," he replied.
Those gifts amounted to a county vendor cutting trees for Walton at his Stone Mountain home for free.
That same vendor, Paul Champion, also says Walton shook him down for a bribe.
From the stand, Walton countered, "If I wanted a bribe from Mr. Champion, I would have took that at my home or my friend's home, why would I meet him in a parking lot to ask for a bribe when there are cameras out there?"
WSBTV
